#15 How to find your creative flow (and never stop creating)
Podcast transcript:
Hey, it's Monday again! Time flies. We're already at episode 15 of this podcast! That means 15 weeks - almost four months! - of writing, recording, and posting. I remember when I first thought about launching a podcast - back in 2015!
It took me almost eight years to finally do it. It felt like an impossible task; it was hard, and I felt so much resistance. I would try and then stop; I would record an episode and then not do anything with it; I would have all these ideas and then not act on them. Today, when I think about my podcast, the ideas simply come to me. I'm constantly creating, and it is like I never stop.
And the reason, more than anything, is flow. The way to get flow is to create, engage your brain, focus, and work. I've learned how to get into that state, and I love it so much that I want more. It's almost like meditation, which is essential for my happiness and sanity.
So, if you're feeling stuck and uninspired when creating content - whether it's a podcast, blog post, article, book, video, spreadsheet, report, or anything else - this episode is for you.
Today I want to talk about finding your creative flow, how to keep it going for as long as possible, and what you can do to make it easier to tap into it when you want or need to. It's not always easy, but if you can do it, you'll have an endless supply of creative ideas and energy at your disposal!
My story with creative flow has been an on-and-off love affair. I started creating content for the internet regularly about ten years ago. When I first started blogging, as I mentioned in the previous episode about perfectionism - I couldn't get anything onto paper. I had a massive bout of writer's block. I would spend hours trying to write, only to end up with a blank screen. I was so frustrated and disappointed in myself that I almost gave up on it altogether - until that conversation with Kate, my coach at the time - my first coach ever! (listen to the episode if you want the full story). In short, Kate made me realize I didn't need to produce the perfect article on my first try. It was nearly impossible to do that - even for the best writers in the world. Somehow I'd always thought that's how writers wrote: perfectly from the first try.
For me, that was the first piece of the creative flow puzzle. After Kate's insights, I finally started to write. But it was still with a lot of resistance and suffering. I didn't like it because what I wrote wasn't worth much - if anything. It was hard work, and it felt like I was dragging my feet. But slowly, as I persisted and started to get slightly better at it, something shifted. I began to enjoy writing; it felt more natural, and I didn't have to put so much effort into it. Even though it's still hard work, and my first drafts are still as shitty! Today, I'm so used to writing (and creating in general) that it just feels like second nature.
By learning to enjoy writing and engaging in the creative process, I've learned a few things about finding your creative flow.
The main thing I know about flow is that it's a fantastic place to be. I reach flow almost every day for at least parts of my day, and it's one of the reasons I'm a happy human being. It's a fascinating mental state where the outside world disappears, you have no anxious or stressful thoughts, and you're completely immersed in the task. You're in the present moment. It's like a form of meditation, and I believe it's why so many creative people can produce such unique works of art.
Neuroscience tells us that creative flow is a state of intense concentration where ideas flow freely and effortlessly. This happens when the brain is in a relaxed alpha-state when we're not stressed or anxious about anything. When you're in creative flow, you feel like you can do anything. It's almost magical.
It's important not to confuse creativity with being artistic. They're not the same thing, even though many people think they are. Creativity is coming up with new and original ideas; you're engaging your brain in a particular way, while art can be a product of creativity.
To get into creative flow, you need to do something that requires concentration but isn't too complicated or overwhelming. The task should also not take too much energy. It should be too hard, but it shouldn't be too easy, either. You can be in creative flow working on a report, a spreadsheet, or a puzzle. It's more about the process of being creative than what you're doing. Everyone can get into flow, our brains have that capacity, but it requires a particular way of using it and focusing.
There are so many benefits to being in flow. According to Psychology Today, experiencing flow regularly boosts your creativity (that's a surprise!) and helps with depression. Feelings of calm and happiness have also been associated with it, as have clear-focused thinking, intuition, and aha-moments (see episode 3 of this podcast about the brain for more about that). The book The Eureka Factor is an excellent read on that topic.
That's the second thing that clicked for me when I was learning to find my creative flow: you reach it when you're relaxed. That means the task must be just challenging enough, but not more. If you're familiar with the four stages of competence, the stages to achieve the most flow are the 3rd stage (conscious competence) and especially the 4th stage: unconscious competence. This stage is the last of the four, where you have enough knowledge or mastery about a subject to start playing with it. The four stages of competence is a valuable theory about learning.
Slowly after that pivotal moment with Kate, I stumbled upon a book that added a third piece to the puzzle. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp (best book ever for anyone looking to build a creative practice). This book taught me that it's crucial to develop a creative routine and stick with it. It doesn't matter when you do your creative work or what time of the day; as long as you have some consistent practice, you can get into flow easier. Before reading that book, I thought you were born with creativity, or you weren't. After reading it, I realized creativity is something you can learn and train. It means you have to PRACTICE! Practice! Practice! You must let go of wanting things to be perfect to achieve creative flow (listen to last week's episode for more about perfectionism).
The next crucial step was reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. In that book, she talks about the muse and how we must be ready when inspiration and creativity strike. That piece of the puzzle allowed me to accept that I wasn't creative all the time. It also taught me that I could get crazy, inspired moments, but I needed to be ready for them when they showed up. How do you get ready? You must be practicing! Once I read that book, I started to see creative work differently. Creative flow can't happen when you're not working.
With those insights, my creative process went from being painful and hard to inviting inspiration and creativity into my life. Creating a routine really helped me achieve that.
Every morning I put my Sony noise-canceling headset on (I love that thing so much), and I start writing for at least 15 minutes in my journal, just about anything that comes to mind - even if it's just gibberish. It doesn't matter what it is as long as I write something down every day. It's like a warm-up. When I'm done, I press play on my writing playlist on Spotify (I'm so tired of it, but it works, I'm totally pavloved, so I'm afraid to change it) and open the google doc for the book I'm currently writing. Then, which is important, I start writing the second part of the sentence that I left open the day before, supported by music that I now associate with beginning to work. I write for 45 minutes.
Puzzle piece number 5: another thing that helped me find and keep creative flow is little tricks to help my brain get into the right state quicker, like leaving a sentence I know how to end for me to finish when I sit down to write. It's been life-changing! Another trick that helps a lot is time-boxing my creative work. I only give myself 45 minutes, so I better stay focused.
Nowadays, I'm in flow in less than 5 minutes with my routine and tricks. It's so good - and addictive - that I don't want to stop. It gets me out of bed in the morning; that's how happy that feeling makes me. I'm always looking for new ways to stay in the flow; that's why I'm so excited to be doing this podcast with you!
Finally, the last but not least piece of the puzzle, and an important one for many of my creative and entrepreneurial clients, is that we often reach flow when tapping into our love for knowledge and learning. Creative generalists (if you don't know what those are, I explained all that in a previous episode) love learning new things and getting good at them. Within that process, there's a lot of flow to be experienced. So much so that I've been working on a new theory about how flow might be what we are after in all our creative pursuits more than anything else.
I graduated a client recently who's one of the most beautiful specimens of a creative generalist I know. She used to be a product designer in the fashion industry and was looking for her next career but needed to figure out what to do. She was overwhelmed and felt like she could never find flow in one specific thing because of all the options available. We took a step back and looked at everything she loved to do and how much she loved learning, and after a lot of hard work, reflecting, and trying things out, she realized that her real passion lay in design. And learning! Through our work together, she crafted a new career path and plan for herself based on her interests and generalist nature. Within three months, she was experiencing creative flow again in a way that was really meaningful to her. She started making money with her new project and is now building a business and career that makes her happy and not anxious, as she told me in her last session. Christina, yes, it's you I'm talking about! You rock! I love you!
Another client, who felt underutilized and under-appreciated at work, worried more about the lack of flow in his life than anything else. He wasn't necessarily interested in finding a new job or career, but he was looking for ways to get his creative juices flowing again. He was bored. We looked at what kind of activities made him feel fulfilled and energized, and we found that improving business systems and making them more efficient made him get into the bliss of flow. It made him want to leave his current position, but as I often say, figuring out what you really want is a side effect of working with me hahaha. Sometimes this means finding a new job or starting something new, as it did with him.
Working with so many incredible creatives for almost ten years now, I've become convinced you craving flow is a real thing, and that's probably what many generalists and creatives do - and why they're so allergic to boredom and for their talents not to be utilized at work or in their life.
So whether you're an artist, writer, entrepreneur, creative professional, or a human who enjoys using your brain's creative power, creating a routine is essential for finding creative flow more easily. When you make space for flow by creating habits that allow it to come through and give yourself permission to experiment and play around as much as possible, you'll find creative flow every single time! And it will become easier and easier to get there until it's almost automatic - within the right circumstances.
To recap, how to find creative flow:
Puzzle piece number one, accepting you suck at it and do it anyway.
What you're doing can't be too hard but not too easy either. Think unconscious competence.
Creativity is a habit. You need to practice, practice, practice - and accept the agony that goes along with producing shitty work.
You can't force creative insights. Flow will come when you're busy doing work.
Use little tricks to help your brain to achieve creative flow.
Give in to your love for learning. Rabbit holes of knowledge are a great place to find flow because they engage your brain correctly.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Eureka Factor by John Kounios and Mark Beeman.
The four stages of competence.
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.
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That was a lot of information! The point is we can all learn how to get into creative flow. With practice and a bit of routine and tricks, you can be in an inspiring state of mind whenever you want – trust me!
Before I go, here's this week's "f*ck it, let's do it" experiment. Now that you have the basics of creative flow, it's time to go out there and do something with it! This week, I want you to try to get into creative flow each day. Create a small routine for yourself, and trick your brain by making it easier to do your creative work. Then, create something! It can be anything - a story, poem, article, or ideas for your next business venture. The choice is yours.
If you're ready for more, here's a little act of daily rebellion this week: it can be a little scary, but I challenge you to get into flow in an unfamiliar environment. Maybe it's a cafe, the park, a coworking space – whatever resonates with you. Just don't stay inside your comfort zone! It's the most rebellious act ever! Go to a place and use the tips from this podcast to zone out of where you are and get into flow.
That's it for this week. I hope you have a fantastic flowy time and create something wonderful! Until next week. Bye!
Just a heads up: I am not a therapist or doctor! If you're not feeling your best mentally or physically, and you need some help, please make sure to consult with a medical professional or a therapist.
